a culture of patient safety. More detailed goals included formulating protocols and guidelines to enhance continuity of care in NICUs, conducting research on specific aspects of patient safety, and reporting adverse events. Germany German Agency for Quality in Medicine Based in Berlin, the German Agency for Quality in Medicine is a not-profit organization, which co-ordinates healthcare quality programs. In the field of patient safety AQUMED was one of the first German organizations calling for effective patient safety programs. The agency was co-founder of the German Coalition for Patient Safety. AQUMED established a national network of Critical Incident Reporting Systems. The institution is partner of the international High 5 Project. German Coalition for Patient Safety The German Coalition for Patient Safety (APS), established in 2005 and located in Bonn is a German non-profit association of organizations and individuals interested and involved in promotion of patient safety. APS' multidisciplinary working groups develop recommendations for patient safety activities in in- and outpatient healthcare institutions. The recommendations are available as open-access documents and distributed in healthcare institutions for free. APS acting together with the German Agency for Quality in Medicine is a Lead Technical Agency of the High 5 Project. United Kingdom The Health Foundation Based in London, England, the Health Foundation is an independent charity that aims to improve the quality of health care for the people of the United Kingdom. The Safer Patients Initiative, one of the Foundation's quality and performance improvement programs, targets reducing medication-related adverse events and errors, reducing infections associated with intensive care units or surgery and improving organizational culture, leadership and expertise in measuring improvement. The goal of the initiative is a 50 percent reduction in adverse events per 1,000 patient days for each site. In 2004, The Health Foundation selected four hospitals from across the UK to work on a £4.3 million patient safety improvement program. These four hospitals continue to show measurable improvements in their patient safety performance, and 16 more hospitals are being selected in 2006 to join the second phase. Lancaster Patient Safety Research Unit The Unit was founded in January 2008 and is a collaborative venture between the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust and Lancaster University. It is funded by the UK National Health Service through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The unit has two aims. The first is to conduct research in patient safety. The second